Published by an old curmudgeon who came to America in 1936 as a refugee from Nazi Germany and proudly served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He is a former law enforcement officer and a retired professor of criminal justice who, in 1970, founded the Texas Narcotic Officers Association. BarkGrowlBite refuses to be politically correct.
(Copyrighted articles are reproduced in accordance with the copyright laws of the U.S. Code, Title 17, Section 107.)

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

LA City Attorney cites the growth of medical marijuana use as one reason the tests were needed

California law enforcement officials are becoming increasingly concerned about drivers operating motor vehicles under the influence of medical marijuana, and well they should be! The medical marijuana law has been misapplied by doctors to the degree that California is now a de facto legal marijuana state. And just think what it will be like when Kookfornia officially legalizes the recreational use of marijuana.

LAPD HIGHLIGHTS NEW ROADSIDE SWAB DRUG TEST
by Melissa Pamer

KTLA-Los Angeles
December 27, 2013

Amid a holiday-season crackdown on drunken driving across the region, authorities on Friday highlighted a new device that allows them to test for the presence of drugs on the spot.

A new portable tool that can be used at sobriety checkpoints — alongside the existing Breathalyzer, which tests for blood-alcohol content — to check oral fluids for the presence of drugs, according to authorities.

Officers can ask drivers — who must consent to the voluntary test — to swab themselves around their gum line and cheek. The tip that’s used is placed into a portable machine for instant results.

Standing with a representative from Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Los Angeles Police Department officials demonstrated the device at a news conference Friday.

The announcement about the technology came amid a crackdown on DUI offenses that is slated to last through New Year’s Day.

“Enjoy the holiday, but don’t be one of those statistics that ends up in the morgue or ends up in jail,” LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith said.

Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer said a state grant was funding the expanded swab testing. He cited the growth of medical marijuana use as one reason the tests were needed, saying the he wanted to push for further testing of drug use among suspected impaired drivers.

The new tests, which takes eight minutes, screen for cocaine, benzodiazepine (Xanax), methamphetamine, amphetamines, narcotic analgesics, methadone and THC representative of marijuana, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Results from the test, which so far has been used about 50 times, have not been submitted as evidence in a city criminal case, the newspaper reported.

Thousands of people have already been arrested this month on suspicion of driving under the influence, according to figures released in several Southern California counties.

The number of law-enforcement officers killed by firearms in 2013 fell to levels not seen since the 19th century, according to a report released Monday. The annual report from the nonprofit National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund also found that deaths in the line of duty generally fell by 8 percent and were the fewest since 1959.

According to the report, 111 federal, state, local, tribal and territorial officers were killed in the line of duty nationwide this past year, compared to 121 in 2012. Forty-six officers were killed in traffic related accidents, and 33 were killed by firearms.

The number of firearms deaths fell 33 percent in 2013 and was the lowest since 1887. The report credits an increased culture of safety among law-enforcement agencies, including increased use of bulletproof vests, that followed a spike in law-enforcement deaths in 2011.

Since 2011, officer fatalities across all categories have decreased by 34 percent, and firearms deaths have dropped by 54 percent. Fourteen officers died from heart attacks that occurred while performing their duties. The report found that Texas and California had the highest number of fatalities, with 13 and 10, respectively.

His brother’s 19-year-old ex-girlfriend lured him to his death by enticing him with a striptease

This tangled web has all the makings of a plot for the TV series CSI.

THIRD SUSPECT IN MURDER, DISMEMBERMENT BROUGHT BACK TO CHICAGO

Chicago Sun-Times
December 29, 2013

The third suspect in a grisly Southwest Side murder was extradited from New Jersey Saturday and charged with first-degree murder.

Milton Miranda, 22, faces one count of first-degree murder in connection with the May murder and dismemberment of Jose Reyes, according to Chicago Police.

Miranda has been held since October in the Morris County Jail in Morristown, N.J., according to jail officials. He was extradited to Chicago on Saturday.

Reyes was the brother of a former boyfriend of Daisy Gutierrez, who is charged in the murder along with her father, Salvador Gutierrez.

Miranda is Daisy Gutierrez’s current boyfriend, authorities said. He is expected in bond court Sunday.

Daisy Gutierrez told her family to leave their Southwest Side home on May 21, according to prosecutors. She invited Jose Reyes to come over.

Gutierrez lured Reyes to her room and began to undress — all while her boyfriend lay in wait.

And that’s when the horror began to unfold inside the single-story home in Chicago’s Scottsdale neighborhood, leading prosecutors to charge Gutierrez with murder.

Her father, 56-year-old Salvador Gutierrez, is charged with concealing a homicide for allegedly watching while Reyes’ body was dismembered and for allegedly helping bury the remains.

Chicago Police believe a love triangle was at the center of the violence at the home in the 8300 block of South Scottsdale, sources told the Chicago Sun-Times. A prosecutor said Daisy Gutierrez had children with Reyes’ brother.

Reyes, 28, had expressed his own interest in Daisy Gutierrez and had been calling her cellphone, Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Heather Kent said in October during Gutierrez’s bond hearing. (According to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office, Reyes was 19.)

So on May 21, while Daisy Gutierrez was undressing in front of Reyes in her bedroom, Kent said, the boyfriend kicked in the door and pounced on Reyes.

The boyfriend attacked Reyes with a pipe and a knife, slitting Reyes’ throat in front of Gutierrez and decapitating him, Kent said.

When it was done, Gutierrez called her father and told him she had “fixed the problem,” Kent said. Her father came home, and they allegedly convinced him to help get rid of the body.

Salvador Gutierrez watched while his daughter’s boyfriend dismembered Reyes, Kent said. Then Salvador Gutierrez spent three hours digging a hole in the backyard and helped bury the remains in plastic bags, Kent said.

Daisy Gutierrez and her father were arrested in Chicago. But Reyes’ remains were found, and an autopsy determined his death was caused by “multiple sharp force injuries” and “assault,” according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.

The judge set Daisy Gutierrez’s bond at $2 million and her father’s at $500,000.

Arizona woman forced her children to take prescription drugs and also attempted to kill her ex-husband by stabbing him multiple times

Cases like this show why some women should never be allowed to have any children and why we should keep the death penalty in place.

CASA GRANDE WOMAN ARRESTED IN DEATH OF DAUGHTER, 13
By Jackee Coe

azcentral.com
December 30, 2013

A Casa Grande woman who faces a charge of first-degree murder in the death of her 13-year-old daughter also tried to kill her three younger children and ex-husband in a Christmas Day rampage, according to police.

Connie Villa, 35, was arrested Sunday morning after she was released from Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix, where she was being treated for what police believe were self-inflicted stab wounds, according to Officer Thomas Anderson, a Casa Grande Police Department spokesman.

Her 13-year-old daughter, Aniarael Macias, was found dead in the bathroom of the family’s apartment on Wednesday night after 33-year-old Adam Villa called 911 to report he had been stabbed and was driving to the hospital, he said.

Investigators determined Connie Villa tried to kill the three other children, ages 3, 5 and 8, by forcing them to take prescription narcotics, Anderson said.

She then lured ex-husband Adam Villa, who is the biological father of the three younger children, to the apartment and stabbed him repeatedly in the upper torso, Anderson said. He escaped and called 911 while driving to Casa Grande Regional Medical Center.

Responding officers had to force their way into the home, where they found Connie Villa with apparent stab wounds to her upper torso, Anderson said. She was holding a knife to her chest and had the three younger children at her side.

The teenager did not have any apparent injuries, and the cause of her death was not immediately known, he said.

An autopsy conducted Saturday by the Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office didn’t identify a cause of death.

Authorities are awaiting the toxicology reports for Macias and the three younger children, Anderson said. The results could take up to three weeks.

The three children also were taken to the hospital for evaluation, where initial tests found they had trace amounts of opiates in their system. All three are in good condition and have been placed with their father’s family.

A statement on behalf of Macias’ father, Michael, said: “We request that the focus of this tragedy be a celebration of our precious Ania’s life. She was a gentle, kind and beautiful spirit who was taken from us much too soon. Michael and his family are heartbroken. Ania was always smiling. She loved her brothers and sisters.”

Though the autopsy found no cause of death for Macias, investigators believe that the evidence at the scene, interviews and medical information of the surviving children show Connie Villa was trying to kill all of her children and her ex-husband.

Connie Villa was booked on one count of first-degree murder and four counts of attempted first-degree murder, Anderson said, adding that she could face additional charges.

One morning, the husband returns the boat to their lakeside cottage after several hours of fishing and decides to take a nap. Although not familiar with the lake, the wife decides to take the boat out. She motors out a short distance, anchors, puts her feet up, and begins to read her book. The peace and solitude are magnificent.

Along comes a Fish and Game Warden in his boat. He pulls up alongside the woman and says, 'Good morning, Ma'am. What are you doing?'

'Reading a book,' she replies, (thinking, 'Isn't that obvious?').

'You're in a Restricted Fishing Area,' he informs her.

'I'm sorry, officer, but I'm not fishing. I'm reading.'

'Yes, but I see you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment. I'll have to take you in and write you up.'

'If you do that, I'll have to charge you with sexual assault,' says the woman.

'But I haven't even touched you,' says the Game Warden.

'That's true, but you have all the equipment.. For all I know you could start at any moment.'

Monday, December 30, 2013

2-year-old son suffered from bruises on his back, forehead, jaw and genitals, a hand print on his bottom, bite marks on his finger and thumb, bleeding in his nose and stomach, a fractured skull, evidence of possible scalding around his diaper area and traumatic brain injury

These two pieces of excrement from hell should be prime candidates for the death penalty. I dare the death penalty abolitionists to argue otherwise!

Police and paramedics were called to an apartment in the 5800 block of Hunt Club Run where young Aiden Calvo was having seizures and coughing up blood on the morning of Dec. 16, according to police records.

Garber told emergency officials who responded that Aiden had a diaper rash and had been bruising easily, police said.

Police arrived with paramedics and found that the child had injuries all over his body, and found blood splatter on his bedroom wall, according to police records.

Aiden was taken to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite, where doctors found bruises on his back, forehead, jaw and genitals, a hand print on his bottom, bite marks on his finger and thumb, bleeding in his nose and stomach, a fractured skull, evidence of possible scalding around his diaper area and traumatic brain injury.

Doctors believed that the child had been abused, police said.

Police interviewed Calvo and Garber, who blamed one another for the child’s injuries, according to police records.

Aiden died on Sunday, authorities said.

They were arrested and taken to the Gwinnett County Detention Center, where they have remained without bond, police said.

Garber and Calvo will appear before a Gwinnett County Magistrate Court on Tuesday at 8:30 a.m., according to court records.

Teacher claims Department of Education investigator blackmailed her into sending him naked photos of herself

With the conflicting versions professed by the teacher and the investigator, I tend to believe the teacher is telling the truth and the investigator is lying. This guy was thinking with his dick instead of his brain when he abused the power of his office. In any case, two more careers have gone down the drain.

TEACHER: PROBER SAID SEX WOULD GET ME OFF HOOK
Teacher Natalya Sokolson Gordon alleges that a DOE investigator demanded sex in exchange for dropping complaints against her

By Susan Edelman

New York Post
December 29, 2013

A Department of Education detective tried to have sex with a Brooklyn teacher he was probing in exchange for letting her keep her job, she charges.

Investigator Lawrence Scott, 40, allegedly sent scores of X-rated texts, a photo of his penis and explicit demands for sex to Natalya Sokolson Gordon, a computer and fifth-grade teacher at PS 329 in Coney Island.

“I like it dirty,” Scott text¬ed the tall brunette soon after inviting her to call him when she got “the courage.”

Over 2¹/₂ months, he sent Gordon a barrage of pornographic messages and requests.

Gordon, 44, admits she sexted back — even sending him topless and bottomless photos of herself, which he requested. She claims it was a desperate bid to save her career from what she called false accusations.

“I feel so stupid for believing he would help me,” she told The Post, tears streaming down her face. “I was scared I was going to lose my job. I felt I had no choice. He had my life in his hands.”

In a meeting at his office on Nov. 14, 2012, Gordon said, Scott boasted that he could get teachers fired — or off the hook.

“I have the power to get rid of you just like that,” she said he told her, snapping his fingers, “or I can make everything go away.”

The scandal undermines the integrity of the DOE’s Office of Special Investigations, where Scott worked for three years. He resigned his $65,000-a-year post in October when confronted with the texts.

“It was the dumbest mistake I ever made,” Scott told The Post, but he denied he exploited his power to seduce Gordon. “She initiated it. I never forced anything on her. There was no quid pro quo.”

Gordon also has filed complaints that Scott groped her breasts and put his hand between her legs during a discussion of her case in a closed-door meeting at her school.

Scott denied assaulting Gordon. She secretly taped the meeting, which includes slapping sounds — she says she fought him off.

On Jan. 31, Gordon was charged with yelling at and grabbing several students the previous year, and of making an obscene gesture in reference to Principal Salema Marbury.

Gordon was yanked from her school and sent to a rubber room, then assigned clerical duties in the same Brooklyn building where Scott worked. Fearful, she said, she asked for a transfer.

Scott started sexting Gordon with banter about sex positions; “Some may force u to scream,” he wrote. The texts are rife with crude slang.

The married Scott, who lives near Gordon in Staten Island, texted: “We can just enjoy each other’s company . . . A lot if we’re naked lmao.”

Gordon turned over 275 pages of texts last October to the Special Commissioner of Investigation for city schools Richard Condon. But after Scott quit, Condon’s office told Gordon that she, too, was under scrutiny “because I didn’t report him and I texted him back,” she said.

“They’re making the victim a culprit,” said Betsy Combier, a paralegal helping defend Gordon against her disciplinary charges.

Gordon’s lawyer, Peter Gleason, could find no written report by Scott.

“His interest was in gratifying his own deviant desires,” Gleason said.

FAIRFIELD, Ohio — A local teacher could lose his job after multiple witnesses came forward to accuse him of making a racially insensitive comment to a student.

The Fairfield Board of Education voted Monday to suspended Gil Voigt after he told an African-American student at Fairfield Freshman School the country doesn’t “need another black president,” according to Superintendent Paul Otten.

The comment came after the student approached Voigt, who is white, and told him he had ambitions to be president of the United States.

“He was talking to some students and said some things that were racially insensitive. We take diversity in our school district very seriously with tolerance of people who are different. We just felt this teacher had crossed the line,” Board President Dan Murray told the Journal-News.

Murray said the unanimous vote by the five-member school board is the first step in the process of terminating the teacher.

This isn’t the first time Voigt has been in trouble for making racially inappropriate comment, according to a report prepared by Assistant Superintendent Roger Martin.

He received a verbal warning in April 2008 for an “inappropriate racial comment,” according to the report obtained by the Journal-News.

The report also lists three other instances where Voigt was disciplined.

In November 2008 he was cited for “improper use of school technology”. Five years later, in November 2013, he was disciplined for “failure to use adopted curriculum.”

He also received a written warning last month for “failure to use adopted curriculum.”

“Obviously we’re very disheartened to have this situation with any of our staff members,” Otten told the Journal-News. “It’s not something we’re proud of, and it’s something we must not tolerate.”

Voigt was not present at the meeting Monday and was not able to be reached for comment by WCPO.

Ninen Romero, of Morrow, Ohio, said she couldn’t imagine a teacher saying something like that to one of her three teenagers, regardless of the context from which it was said.

"The purpose of the teacher is to teach the students, not criticizing to anybody," said Romero, who is of Filipino ancestry.

"I've heard some comments about (my children), and just told them to ignore it and go on,” she said. “That's not the purpose of going there, to entertain those types of comments."

Voigt has been a Fairfield teacher since 2000. Before that he taught seven years in North Carolina, two years in Florida and six years in the Cincinnati Public Schools, according to the Journal-News.

He is eligible to request a hearing before the school board. Voigt had 10 days from the time of his suspension to make the request.

All politicians - Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Independents - lie … that’s how they get themselves elected, but President Obama just about tops them all. And in this particular instance we’re talking just about Obamacare.

2013: THE YEAR OF BROKEN OBAMACARE PROMISES
By Cathy Burke

Newsmax
December 29, 2013

President Obama's inauguration in January kicked off a year of broken promises about his signature health care law, threatening to turn a presidency based on vows of hope and change to one doling out disappointment and failures.

The Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, but it was in 2013 that the health care reform law implode into a nightmare of broken promises. Assertions made by the president and Health Secretary weeks ago, months ago and even years ago have over and over again proved to been misleading at best and complete untrue at worst.

No, you may not be able to keep your doctor or your plan. And, no, the website is not user-friendly.

Here are the Top-10 Obamacare promises that were broken in 2013:

1. The website is simple and user-friendly

Hardly. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius's claim in an op-ed piece in USA Today turned out to be a glib — and false — boast.

Even Democrat-friendly Jon Stewart's The Daily Show hammered Sebelius on the widespread and well-reported problems with the HealthCare.gov sign-ups. Stewart ended the interview with the official in a merciless monologue in which he wondered: “And then I think to myself, ‘well, maybe she’s just lying to me.’”

Just days into its disastrous rollout, the Obamacare website was out of order until mid-morning Oct. 8, a public relations headache given the administration had pledged to sign up 7 million people for Obamacare insurance by the start of 2014.

The early outage wasn't the last; on Dec. 20, a mere three days before the deadline to sign up for coverage starting Jan. 1, yet another outage lasted for several hours.

Even members of Congress were vexed by Obamacare's glitches.

2. "If you like your plan, you can keep your plan."

Obama's June 6, 2009 assertion was wrong. As insurers sent cancellations to millions of individual policy holders because their plans were sub-par for Obamacare standards, the president's oft-repeated pledge blew apart, and PolitiFact declared the vow the "lie of the year."

But respected Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer railed Obamacare itself was a fraud from the beginning, writing the law "was designed to throw people off their private plans and into government-run exchanges where they would be made to overpay — forced to purchase government-mandated services they don’t need — as a way to subsidize others."

3. "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor."

Obama's 2009 promise was wrong again, we learned in 2013. For insured Americans dumped by their employer-sponsored plans because they don't cut it with the new health care law, or pushed by their insurers to re-enroll at higher rates, it's likely they won't be able to keep their doctors, conservative blogger Cam Harris writes.

Offering the example of the 15,000 spouses of UPS employees forced to seek out new plans on the individual market, Harris writes they'll find their Obamacare network won't include their usual MD.

According to Forbes, and based on a Manhattan Institute analysis of the HHS numbers, Obamacare will actually jack up underlying insurance rates for young men by an average of 97 to 99 percent, and for young women by an average of 55 to 62 percent. As for states, the worst off is North Carolina, which is expected to see individual-market rates triple for women, and quadruple for men, the analysis showed.

5. Obamacare won't add 'one dime to our deficits'

But it does. Even the Government Accountability Office's report of Feb. 26, 2013, projected Obamacare will increase the long-term federal deficit by $6.2 trillion.

An Investor's Business Daily analysis also shot down the Obama promise, reporting the Affordable Care Act could actually add $18 billion in red ink.

6. The ACA will cost around $900 billion over 10 years

Not even close. A Congressional Budget Office’s report from May 2013 puts the real price tag more around the area of $1.8 trillion. And the cost projections rise with every new estimated, conservative blogger Cam Harris noted.

7. Families making less than $250,000 won't see 'any form' of tax increase

Citing a Joint Committee on Taxation 2012 report and Congressional Budget Office information, as well as a Heritage Foundation report, Obamacare’s taxes and penalties will accumulate over $770 billion in new revenue over a 10-year period, and among taxes that'll pound the middle class are the individual mandate tax, the medical device tax, and new penalties and limits on health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts.

8. The ACA will keep healthcare costs down.

So says the president's Council of Economic Advisers.

But it's just not so, according to senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and American Enterprise Institute visiting fellow James Captretta writes in the Weekly Standard.

Here's why: National Health Expenditure projections show a slowdown in health spending that began long before Obamacare was passed, and was due to factors entirely unrelated, he argues.

In 2002, NHE spending per capita rose 8.5 percent and then began to slow over the ensuring years, he notes. And HHS actuaries even concede the reasons their estimates of health costs over the coming decade are lower than they were a few years ago is due to economic conditions, fiscal policy changes, including a sequester cut of Medicare payments, and a slowdown in growth in Medicaid, Medicare, and other government programs — all unrelated to Obamacare.

9. You have a deadline and a mandate.

Maybe. Squishy deadlines, and "fixes" have been a hallmark of Obamacare almost from the start.

In the most major fix of a problem aimed at people who lost their coverage because it didn't measure up to Obamacare standards, the administration abruptly shifted gears Dec. 19, changing policy to help people make a deadline to replace dropped insurance plans.

Those with inadequate insurance that got canceled were now allowed to claim a “hardship exemption," giving them the option to buy cheaper, minimal coverage plans normally available only to people under 30.

Another "fix" came Nov. 14, a week after the president apologized for the cancellations sent to people whose insurance didn't meet new standards. The president asked insurers to keep offering those plans for a year even if they don't meet minimum Obamacare requirements.

For small businesses, Obama last July bumped back the deadline requiring companies with 50 or more employees to offer insurance from Jan. 1 2014 to Jan. 1, 2015.

As for sign-up deadlines, it's been confusing at best. In October, people had until Dec. 15 to pick a plan if they wanted coverage beginning Jan. 1. Then, in November, it was extended to Dec. 23.

But citing high traffic to the HealthCare.gov website and at call centers before that deadline, the goal posts moved again, this time to Christmas Eve, Dec. 24.

Officials said nearly 2 million visits had been logged by that time in the last-minute rush, Yet in a blog post on the website Dec. 24, the administration suggested additional flexibility.

"Sometimes despite your best efforts, you might have run into delays caused by heavy traffic to HealthCare.gov, maintenance periods, or other issues with our systems that prevented you from finishing the process on time," the post said. "If this happened to you, don't worry -- we still may be able to help you get covered as soon as January 1."

HHS also pushed back the deadline when the first month's premium would be due, and insurers obliged, extending the payment deadline nine days, to Jan. 10.

10. Sure, the national exchange is glitchy, but the state sites are working great.

Not so fast.

Obamacare’s state-run enrollment operations have had technological delays and low sign-up levels. Several states even replaced top executives.

“Some of these states have been committed, but it’s just been hurdle after hurdle after hurdle,” said Heather Howard, program director at the State Health Reform Assistance Network, a Princeton, New Jersey-based group advising state exchanges told Bloomberg News. “I do think those states will get there, but this is an ambitious undertaking in the best of cases.”

Meanwhile, Massachusetts and Vermont are weighing legal options against the contractor that designed their healthcare insurance exchange websites. both states used Montreal-based CGI Group, which built HealthCare.gov, and say they are withholding future payments and taking steps now to recoup millions in taxpayer dollars already spent on their websites that still have serious problems, reports The Boston Globe.

“CGI has consistently underperformed, which is frustrating and a serious concern,” said Jason Lefferts, a spokesman for the Massachusetts' insurance marketplace, Commonwealth Home Connector. “We are holding the vendor accountable for its underperformance and will continue to apply nonstop pressure to work to fix defects and improve performance.”

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Each year, 5,000 British hospital patients suffer from surgeons cutting the wrong part of their bodies, dirty instruments, and surgical paraphernalia left inside their bodies after they’ve been stitched up

British authorities say the foul-ups are ‘relatively rare,’ but tell that to the 5,000 patients who have to return for remedial surgery each year. The question now is, will there be a significant increase in the same foul-ups plaguing patients under Obamacare?

NHS SURGERY BLUNDERS DOUBLE IN A DECADE: 5,000 PEOPLE A YEAR HAVE TO GO BACK TO HOSPITAL BECAUSE OF BUNGLED TREATMENT
Cutting the wrong part of the body and leaving 'foreign objects' inside patients among the reasons for 35,000 people requiring extra operations in the last decade

By Lizzie Parry

Mail Online
December 28, 2013

Surgeons cutting the wrong part of the body, dirty instruments and leaving equipment inside patients during operations has resulted in 35,000 of people needing extra hospital treatment in a decade, it has emerged.

Patients groups have branded the sharp 100 per cent rise in patients being re-admitted to hospital after botched operations, 'shocking and frightening'.

Figures released under Freedom of Information laws, found that in 2012 5,328 people had to be re-admitted to hospital following botched operations.

That figure is a jump from 2,641 patients in 2003.

The main reason given for re-admissions doubling in a decade is 'unintentional cuts, punctures, perforations or haemorrhages' or bleeding.

A Pennsylvania State Trooper who was committed to a mental health facility in 2006 after several attempts at suicide is prohibited by a federal gun control law from possessing a firearm because of the involuntary commitment. While the prohibition does not make any exception for police officers, he is being allowed to carry a gun on-duty without any objection by the Feds. However, this week a state appellate court has upheld a lower court’s ruling that, because of the federal law, the state trooper cannot carry a gun off-duty.

Now it does not make any sense that just because his supervisors could deprive him of his duty weapon if they concluded that he is about to go off his rocker again, the trooper is allowed to carry a gun on-duty but not off-duty when he is prohibited at all times from possessing a firearm by the federal Gun Control Act.

Had the state appellate court overturned the lower court’s ruling, I feel sure that the Feds would not be coming after him because he was carrying a gun off-duty. If the Justice Department and the DEA are not going to enforce the federal laws against marijuana in Washington and Colorado, the two states that have thus far legalized pot, why would they go after a cop for the illegal possession of a firearm?

STATE TROOPER CAN’T HAVE GUN WHILE OFF DUTY DUE TO MENTAL HEALTH RECORD, PENNSYLVANIA COURT RULES
By Matt Miller

The Patriot-News
December 26, 2013

Pennsylvania State Trooper Michael L. Keyes is in an odd situation.

When on duty, he can carry a gun.

Yet while off duty, he is barred by law from possessing any firearms, because seven years ago he suffered from deep depression, repeatedly tried to kill himself by taking drugs and was involuntarily committed for mental health treatment.

Keyes' latest attempt to be allowed to have a gun all the time was rejected this week by the state Superior Court.

That court upheld an earlier ruling by Perry County Senior Judge Keith B. Quigley that Keyes' involuntary mental health commitment constitutes an unsurmountable legal barrier to his ability to possess a gun while off duty.

An attempt to reach Keyes' attorney, Joshua Prince, for comment on the case wasn't successful Thursday. Keyes has been involved in legal battles ever since completing his mental health treatment. He also had to fight to be reinstated to the state police.

He was serving as a state trooper in Newport, when he was placed on temporary leave and ordered into mental health treatment in 2006. He finished treatment in less than a year and had to battle to get his job back, even after his doctor cleared him to go back to work.

An arbitrator's decision ordering his return to limited duty was fought by the state police, but ultimately was upheld by Commonwealth Court. The state Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of that ruling, and he was placed back on duty in 2010. In 2012, Commonwealth Court also ordered that Keyes be awarded nearly $16,000 in back pay.

Keyes began battling for full reinstatement of his ability to carry firearms in 2008. The problem, according to court filings, is that the federal Gun Control Act bars those who have been subject to involuntary mental health commitments from possessing guns.

In its ruling issued Tuesday, the Superior Court found there is no way for Keyes to have the record of his involuntary mental health commitment expunged. That means Keyes cannot surmount the federal ban on his having a gun off-duty, President Judge Emeritus Kate Ford Elliott wrote in the state court's opinion.

That prohibition does not amount to a breach of Keyes' rights under the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, Ford Elliott found, because it applies only to an "extremely small" class of citizens and has a solid public safety basis.

"The dangers inherent in the possession of firearms by the mentally ill are manifest," the judge wrote. And while Keyes argued that he is no longer mentally ill, "a present clean bill of health is no guarantee that a relapse is not possible," Ford Eliiott noted.

"Given the extreme potential harm attendant to the possession of deadly weapons by the mentally ill, and the risk of relapse," the judge wrote, "we see an important government interest in controlling the availability of firearms for those who have ever been adjudged mentally defective or have ever been committed to a mental institution but are now deemed to be cured."

It is "rational" for Keyes to still be allowed to have a gun on-duty because then he is under the supervision and observation of superior officers and his fellow troopers, Ford Elliott concluded.

"Were [Keyes] to again fall into a depressive state with suicidal ideation, it would be much more likely to be discovered while he is on-duty and his superiors could then restrict his access to state police firearms," she wrote.

Members of the Semitic cabal that controls all the world’s money express concern that they held back local man Jeff Crawford a little too much on Wednesday

The Onion
December 12, 2013

JEWISH CABAL HEADQUARTERS, JERUSALEM — Saying that they never intended to behave quite so mercilessly, several prominent architects of the global Jewish conspiracy aired their concerns Thursday that they perhaps came down a little too hard on local man Jeff Crawford yesterday.

The Zionist leaders within the international political, banking, and entertainment spheres who together dictate the world’s economy, media, and political structures told reporters that they regretted wielding their enormous influence in order to hinder the unemployed 42-year-old roofer at every turn throughout Wednesday, agreeing that their combined efforts to systematically impede the non-Jewish man’s financial stability, happiness, and general well-being were “a bit much.”

“While it is generally in our best interest to frustrate hardworking Anglo-Saxon Protestants like Jeff at every turn with our extreme wealth and power, I think we definitely went a little overboard on the guy yesterday,” financier Julian Rothschild told reporters from deep within the Semitic cabal’s secret underground headquarters five miles beneath Jerusalem. “Sometimes you just get so caught up in the fervor of working with every Jewish man, woman, and child to prevent the world’s gentiles from ever achieving success that you take things a little too far, and that’s exactly what happened with Jeff yesterday.”

“Everyone feels just awful about it,” Rothschild added.

As characterized by numerous organizers of the massive conspiracy—including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, banker Paul Warburg III, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke—Wednesday’s attacks on Crawford were “a bit unfair” to the father of three and lifelong Methodist. Specifically, the conspirators pointed to instances yesterday in which Crawford was fired from a contracting job, had the interest rate on his mortgage raised, and was given false traffic updates by a Jewish-owned radio station, calling these episodes gratuitous and “way over the top, even for us.”

Moreover, members expressed contrition over having ensured that Crawford’s recent loan application with Citibank was rejected yesterday, saying that, other than not being born of the Chosen People, Crawford had done nothing to deserve such harsh persecution.

“We were originally just going to raise the cost of his health care premiums and maybe mess with his credit score a little, but things quickly spiraled out of control,” said noted Elder of Zion Abraham Meyersicht, 102, saying that yesterday’s abuses were all the more excessive in light of the fact that Hollywood’s Jewish overseers had canceled Crawford’s favorite television show earlier this year. “And that thing where we had the police pull him over and give him a huge ticket after we sent a guy to knock out one of his taillights was just adding insult to injury.”

“Jeff is basically a good guy who is just trying to make it in a world being viciously controlled by money-hungry Jews such as myself,” Meyersicht continued. “He didn’t deserve that.”

Given the inordinate trials and tribulations suffered by Crawford over the course of the past 24 hours, several of the global conspirators said that the outright viciousness of their behavior has forced them to reconsider their future plans of adding bogus arrests to the goy’s criminal record, having the city seize his home through eminent domain, and ensuring that his children are denied admission into college.

Indeed, many members of the international Jewish syndicate confirmed that their excessive mistreatment of Crawford has caused them to rethink their overall approach to stymieing the progress of the world’s non-Jews at every opportunity.

“Sure, we control all the wealth and politicians and media outlets and motion picture production studios and courts of law and military arsenals and weather patterns in the world, but that doesn’t mean we need to be so completely cruel in our efforts to ensure that the Jewish people remain atop the social ladder for all eternity,” said Rothschild. “Just mainly cruel should suffice.”

Rothschild added that he and his fellow Jewish collaborators would do their best to make it up to Crawford in the future, but added that they were all going to be pretty busy perpetuating the myth of the Holocaust over the course of the next few months.

While conducting surveillance tours in various parts of the city of Acuña, Coahuila State Police captured an escaped prisoner from the September 17th 2012 Piedras Negras mass prison break.

Authorities report that during the Acuña surveillance they noticed Sergio Armando Nerio Proa acting "suspiciously", after stopping him for questioning, by using identification on his person, they were able to match him to one of the missing escapees.

129 prsoners escaped in a planned escape involving a tunnel and a large amount of the escapees allowed to break free by simply walking unchallenged out prison doors.

This capture is number 60 of the 129 escapees to be captured, adding to the 17 killed in the process of being captured or in other clashes with authorities.

This brings a total of 77 accounted for, leaving a balance of 52 whose whereabouts remains unknown.

Zetas were charged with masterminding the escape, Jorge Luis Moran, public safety secretary of Coahuila, stated; “inmates inside the prison reported that those who plotted the escape were Zetas members and that some prisoners not in the cartel were forced to go along”.

Saturday, December 28, 2013

USMC finds that 55 percent of female Marines are unable to do three pull-ups

A minimum of three pull-ups are required of all male Marines. When it was recently announced that women Marines would be able to join combat infantry units, the corps ordered that as of January 1, 2014, all women would have to pass the three-pull-up physical test. So far, 55 percent of the women tested have been unable to perform the required three pull-ups. Only one percent of male recruits have been unable to pass that test.

The corps has now postponed the January 1 deadline. According to Newsmax, a corps spokesperson said that the pull-up test had been put off until sometime next year, in order to gather more data and "ensure all female Marines are given the best opportunity to succeed."

Robert Maginnis, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, says the delay shows that women can't meet the same standards. "Young women, in spite of all the training and all the best intentions, are not going to be the equal of young men in terms of upper body strength," Maginnis says. "You've got to have a lot of upper body strength to lift the stuff. Been there, done that."

There was a time when one of our military branches – I think it was the navy – required two men to carry a stretcher bearing a 150-pound dummy for a distance of 100 feet within a certain time frame. When women recruits were unable to pass this test, the requirement was changed to four recruits carrying the stretcher and they were given more time to complete the task as well. Thus the standards were lowered for all personnel in order to accommodate women recruits.

For me, when I was in the army, those daily pull-ups were the hardest of all the physical exercises I had to endure, but I never had any trouble doing at least six or seven. And then there were those fucking duck waddles … it still hurts when I think about them.

Can’t do three pull-ups? Hey, that must be why women are called the weaker sex.

While it is true that China and Korea suffered for years from unspeakable atrocities at the hands of Japan’s Imperial Army, the Japanese soldiers who died during the conflicts before and during WWII deserve the same honor from its country’s leaders as Chinese and Korean war dead deserve from the leaders of their countries.

And the State Department’s declaration of disappointment is the same as if the Japanese - who consider the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as atrocities - were to express their disappointment over the President of the United States laying a wreath at our war memorials.

JAPANESE PM PROVOKES ANGER WITH YASUKUNI WAR SHRINE VISIT
By Jonathan Soble in Tokyo, Jamil Anderlini in Beijing and Song Jung-a in Seoul

The Financial Times
December 26, 2913

Shinzo Abe has provoked anger in China and South Korea by visiting Tokyo’s Yasukuni war shrine, breaking an informal seven-year freeze on visits by Japanese prime ministers to the site reviled by many in Asia as a symbol of Japanese imperialism.

Mr Abe, trailed by news cameras, worshipped at the shrine on Thursday to mark the first anniversary of his administration. Members of his cabinet had visited the shrine on significant dates this year but the premier himself had stayed away out of what analysts and government officials had said was deference to Japan’s Asian neighbours.

Yasukuni honours the souls of some 2.5m soldiers killed in Japanese military campaigns since the 19th century, but the politics surrounding it have been highly fraught since the late 1970s when the spirits of 14 wartime leaders convicted as Class-A war criminals by an Allied tribunal were surreptitiously enshrined there.

Within hours of Mr Abe’s visit, China’s foreign ministry released two statements of “strong indignation” and warned of unspecified “consequences”. It later summoned the Japanese ambassador to express its opposition.

“The Japanese leader’s visit to the Yasukuni Shrine is, in nature, an attempt to whitewash the history of aggression and colonialism by militarist Japan,” the ministry said, and “cannot but give rise to high vigilance and strong concerns of Japan’s close Asian neighbours and the international community over where Japan is headed.”

South Korea also condemned the visit, calling it a “deplorable and anachronistic act” that would damage bilateral relations and stability in northeast Asia. “Mr Abe’s visit to the shrine reveals his wrong understanding of history,” the government said in a statement.

Thursday’s visit chimed with what many see as a deepening focus on rightwing causes by Mr Abe, who for most of his first year in office had prioritised his “Abenomics” campaign to reenergise the economy.

Mr Abe has recently pushed an unpopular official secrets act through parliament and is taking steps to strengthen the military and loosen restrictions on its participation in foreign conflicts.

The last serving Japanese prime minister to visit Yasukuni was Junichiro Koizumi, in 2006. Mr Koizumi’s regular attendance at the shrine enraged China and resulted in a prolonged suspension of top-level government contact between the two countries.

Ironically, it was Mr Abe who repaired the fault created by Mr Koizumi, by staying away from the shrine during his first stint as prime minister from 2006-07. This time, however, relations have only worsened amid a bitter stand-off over control of the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands, which China claims and calls the Diaoyu.

Japanese media suggested that, with little prospect of a rapprochement in sight, Mr Abe may have felt he had little to lose by visiting the shrine. On taking office a year ago he said he “painfully regretted” having stayed away during his first term, and his many conservative supporters expected him to make what they see as a patriotic show of respect to Japan’s war dead.

The US said it was “disappointed” by Mr Abe’s decision to visit Yasukuni. “The United States hopes that both Japan and its neighbours will find constructive ways to deal with sensitive issues from the past,” the state department said in a statement.

Mr Abe said: “Regrettably, it is a reality that the visit to Yasukuni Shrine has become a political and diplomatic issue. It is not my intention at all to hurt the feelings of the Chinese and Korean people.”

As many of China’s neighbours have grown wary of its own rapid military build-up and growing assertiveness in a string of territorial disputes, Beijing has tried to present itself as the victim of bullying by Japan and the US, which it accuses of trying to stir up trouble in the region in order to contain China’s rise.

China’s tightly controlled state media often portrays Beijing as standing up for other countries in the face of a rising Japanese threat, though surveys in the region show animosity towards Japan is mostly limited to China and Korea.

An Iowa State University assistant professor resigned after being accused of spiking rabbit blood to falsely show that an AIDS vaccine was working in the research animals.

Dr. Dong-Pyou Han was an assistant professor of biomedical sciences. He resigned in October after admitting responsibility, an ISU spokesman said.

The fraudulent results helped an ISU research team gain millions of dollars in federal money, according to Dr. James Bradac, who helps oversee AIDS vaccine grants for the National Institutes of Health.

Bradac said in a phone interview Monday that Han apparently added human blood components to the rabbit blood to skew experiments’ results. He said this was the worst case of research fraud he’d seen in his 24 years at the federal agency.

The human blood came from people whose bodies had produced antibodies to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, Bradac said. The presence of these antibodies in the rabbits’ blood made it appear that the vaccine was spurring the animals to build defenses against HIV.

“This positive result was striking, and it caught everybody’s attention,” Bradac said.

Federal documents released Monday show the rabbit-blood results were presented at numerous scientific meetings over several years. But researchers at other institutions became suspicious after they were unsuccessful in duplicating the ISU results.

The ISU team is led by Dr. Michael Cho, a biomedical professor who came to Ames several years ago from Case Western Reserve University in Ohio.

Bradac said Cho started receiving federal grants for the research in 2008, when he was at Case Western. Cho does not face discipline in the matter, said ISU spokesman John McCarroll.

Bradac said Han worked for Cho for about 15 years and transferred to ISU with him. In all, the team was awarded about $19 million in multiyear grants, which also financed related research at several institutions. About $10 million of that money was awarded after Cho’s team reported “exciting results” that now appear to have been fraudulent, Bradac said.

McCarroll said Cho was alerted in January to possible problems with his team’s experiments.

“At Iowa State’s request, the research samples in question were examined by researchers at another university; they confirmed samples had been spiked,” McCarroll wrote in an email to the Register.

Most incidents of misconduct involve someone writing down false data, not altering physical evidence, he said.

The federal documents, which were posted on a government website, say Han agreed to be banned from participating in any federally financed research for three years. Oransky said that’s an unusually strong penalty for a scientist.

Oransky said the federal documents suggest ISU officials promptly looked into the suspicions of fraud and reported their findings.

That’s a good sign, he said. Too often, he said, research institutions cover up misconduct or publish opaque accounts that fail to make clear what happened.

However, he said, senior faculty should be held accountable in such cases, because they’re supposed to monitor their staff members’ work.

Oransky said he hoped federal prosecutors would look into the allegations that millions of taxpayer dollars were awarded based on lies.

“This is fraud, and the question is whether it’s a big enough case for the government to go after,” he said. “… I think it’s time for the government to criminally prosecute more of these cases.”

Caroline Glick: ‘US security guarantees are about as useful as a three dollar bill’

Glick, a long-time critic of the Obama administration’ Israel policies, says that Kerry’s latest security proposals for Israel ignore decades of Jewish blood shed at the hands of the Palestinians and their vows to obliterate the Jewish state.

KERRY ISN’T JUST ANOTER FOOL MASQUERADOMG AS A WISE MAN. HE’S DANGEROUS
In enforcing deluded agenda, American Secretary of State ignoring decades of blood and deaths

By Caroline B. Glick

Jewish World Review
December 27, 2013

Like his supporters, US Secretary of State John Kerry has apparently been asleep for the past 20 years.

Kerry has proffered us security arrangements, which he claims will protect Israel from aggression for the long haul. They will do this, he argues, despite the fact that his plan denies the Jewish state physically defensible borders in the framework of a peace deal with the PLO.

There are several serious problems with Kerry's arrangements. But in the context of Kerry's repeated claims that his commitment to Israel's security is unqualified, their most glaring flaws are rooted in their disregard for all the lessons we have learned over the past two decades.

Kerry's security arrangements rest on three assumptions. First, they assume that the main threats Israel will face in an era of "peace" with the Palestinians will emanate from east of the Jordan River. The main two scenarios that have been raised are the threat of terrorists and advanced weaponry being smuggled across the border; and a land invasion or other type of major aggression against Israel, perpetrated by Iraqis moving across Jordan.

It is to fend off these threats, Kerry argues, that he would agree to a temporary deployment of Israeli forces in the Jordan Valley even after Israel expels all or most of the 650,000 Israeli civilians who live in Judea, Samaria and eastern, northern and southern Jerusalem.

We will consider the strategic wisdom of his plans for defending Israel from threats east of the Jordan River presently. But first we need to ask whether a threat from across the border would really be the only significant threat that Israel would face after surrendering Judea, Samaria and much of Jerusalem to the PLO.

The answer to this question is obvious to every Israeli who has been awake for the past 20 years, since Israel started down the "land for peace" road with the PLO.

The greatest threat Israel will face in an era of "peace" with the Palestinians will not come from east of the Jordan. It will come from west of the Jordan — from the Jew-free Palestinian state.

The Palestinians don't give us peace for land. They give us war for land. Whether they support the PLO, Hamas or anything in between, the Palestinians have used every centimeter of land that Israel has given them as launching bases for terrorist and political attacks against Israel.

There is no peace camp in Palestinian society. There are only terrorist organizations that compete for power and turf. And to the extent there are moderates in Palestinian society, they are empowered when Israel is in control, and weakened when Israel transfers power to the PLO.

Back in halcyon 1990s, Israeli supporters of "land for peace" told us, "It's better to be smart than right."

By this they meant that for peace, we should be willing to give up our historical homeland, and even our eternal capital, despite the fact that they are ours by legal and historic right. That peace, they promised, would protect us, neutralize the threat of terrorism and make the entire Arab world love us.

Over the past 20 years, we learned that all these wise men were fools. Even as the likes of Tom Friedman and Jeremy Ben Ami continue to tell us that the choice is between ideology — that is, Jewish rights and honor — and peace, today we know that they are full of it.

Our most peaceful periods have been those in which we have been fully deployed in Judea and Samaria. The more fully we deploy, the more we exercise our legal and national rights to sovereign power in those areas, the safer and more peaceful Israeli and Palestinian societies alike have been.

The only way to be smart, we have learned, is by being right. The only way to secure peace is by insisting that our rights be respected. We won't get peace for land. We will get war — not from the Iraqis or anyone else to our east, but from the Palestinians. And since the Palestinians are the people Kerry is intending to empower with his peace plan and his security arrangements, both his peace plan and his security arrangements are deeply dangerous and hostile.

As for the threat from east of the Jordan, here too, Kerry's security arrangements are absurd.

Kerry and his supporters claim that by enabling Israel to maintain a limited force along border with Jordan for a period of 5-15 years, he will build, in the words of Jeffrey Goldberg, his biggest fan, "an impregnable security system."

But this is ridiculous. When Israel withdrew from the international border between Gaza and Egypt, it wrongly assumed two things — first, that the regime of Hosni Mubarak would always be in power, and second, that Mubarak's regime would secure the border.

In the event, Mubarak, Israel's peace partner, did not secure the border. According to then Shin Bet director Yuval Diskin, in the three months after Israel withdrew from Gaza in August 2005, the Palestinians smuggled more weapons into the Gaza Strip from Egypt than they had in the previous 38 years, when Israel controlled the border.

And of course Mubarak did not remain in power. He was replaced by the Muslim Brotherhood.

While it is true that for now, the Egyptian military has wrested control over the country from the Muslim Brotherhood, and is reportedly cooperating with Israel in the Sinai, there is no reason to assume that the present conditions will prevail.

Kerry's security arrangements along the Jordan Valley are predicated on two similarly dim-witted notions. First, that the Hashemite regime will remain in power forever. And second, that the Hashemites will want to protect the border forever.

Given the instability of the Arab world as a whole and the fact that the overwhelming majority of Jordanians are Palestinians, the most likely scenario is that the Hashemites will be overthrown at some point in the eminently foreseeable future. Moreover, even if King Abdullah II manages to remain in power, his children are half Palestinian. So even if the Hashemites remain in power, there is no reason to believe that their commitment to peace with Israel will be maintained over time. This is doubly true given the rise of jihadist forces aligned with Iran and al-Qaida battling for power in Syria and Iraq.

The third foundation of Kerry's security arrangements is that Israel can trust America's security guarantees.

This position of course was completely discredited by the nuclear deal that Kerry and President Barack Obama have concluded with Iran, which paves the way for the genocidal Islamic Republic to acquire nuclear weapons. After the Iran deal, only the most reckless and irresponsible Israeli leaders could take American security guarantees at face value.

Israelis frustrate the land-for-peace processors from Washington because we have actually been awake for the past 20 years. And we refuse forget what we know.

Land for peace was killed by Palestinian terrorists.

Jordan is not forever.

And US security guarantees are about as useful as a three dollar bill.

A Queens man who dumped his cyber-gal pal claims she then trashed his fiancée online as a drug-addicted tramp — by setting up sexually explicit profiles using pictures of her lifted from social-media sites.

Emmanuil Sadikov filed a $5 million lawsuit in Brooklyn federal court Thursday against the enraged woman and three alleged cohorts, saying they smeared his fiancée, Evelina Elterman, by setting up nasty sex- and dating-site profiles using her face and name and forwarding links to the couple’s shocked friends and family.

The soon-to-be-married couple lives in Kew Gardens.

A source said Sadikov once had an online relationship with one of the alleged tormentors, but after he broke it off, she hijacked innocent online pics of Elterman from social media and created the ugly profiles on largely Russian networking pages.

The suit accuses Izabella and Khananiya Avshman, of Allen, Texas, and Florida and Semyon Fishkin, of Dallas, of cooking up the online character assassination.

None of the defendants could immediately be reached for comment.

The fake profiles also directly attacked Sadikov, labeling him a “dishonest person” who “is abusing Evelina Elterman and paying her for sex,” the suit states.

The couple got some of the profiles taken down but the online campaign against them has continued, court papers state.

Izabella Avshman told them directly last month that the attacks won’t stop until their reputations “completely ruined,” the suit says.

Avshman did not return a call for comment.

The crew also sent “direct messages” to their relatives portraying the couple as drug addicts and derelicts, the suit claims. It does not specify what social-networking site was used to send those messages.

The nasty profiles and messages have destroyed Sadikov’s personal life and his real-estate business, the suit claims.

“As a result of the defendant’s actions, plaintiffs friends and family have stopped talking to Emmanuel Sadikov and Evelina Elterman and Emmanuel Sadikov’s business associates have
refused to conduct business with him,” the suit says.

Sadikov declined to comment on the case or the exact nature of his relationship with the defendants.

Some Israelis lawmakers on Thursday were upset over what they viewed as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s flippant decision to announce more Jewish “settlement activity” in the midst of US-brokered peace talks, even as reports indicated Israel doesn’t really need American involvement in the negotiating process, after all.

“Netanyahu is giving the American administration the finger,” MK Zehava Gal-On, leader of the extreme left-wing Meretz Party, said regarding the prime minister’s announcement that a tenders for an unspecified number of new housing units in existing Jewish communities would be issued in the coming weeks.

Netanyahu tied the new building tenders to the third release of jailed Palestinian terrorists agreed upon as part of the current peace talks.

So far, the negotiations brokered by US Secretary of State John Kerry have failed to produce any positive results, despite Kerry’s repeated trips to the region. However, the headline story in Israel’s Yediot Ahronot on Thursday again suggested that Israel and the Palestinians really don’t need such overt American involvement in the peace process.

According to the report, Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas have been conducting backchannel negotiations for a number of years. The two leaders have been dispatching trusted advisors to London, where the interlocutors try to hash out daily disputes, present new ideas and exchange direct messages from Netanyahu and Abbas.

The goal of the meetings is three-fold: to find solutions to small day-to-day problems in the disputed territories, to lay the groundwork for a larger diplomatic breakthrough, and to create the necessary mechanism so that when the two sides reach a period of sufficient calm, serious efforts toward reaching a comprehensive, final agreement can begin quickly.

That these meetings have not yet accomplished their overall goal suggests that Washington is trying to fast-track a process that will continue to take time, that the two sides simply are not at a point where they can realistically reach a genuine, lasting peace agreement.

As further evidence that Kerry is stumbling about blindly, Israel’s Army Radio reported this week that his latest security proposals would give Israel full security control over the Jordan Valley border and the right to fly intelligence-gathering drones over a future Palestinian state. While those terms are acceptable to Israel, any observer with half a brain knows that the Arabs would never go for it, and, indeed, Kerry’s proposal has already been rejected outright by the Arab League.

As is his habit, Jackson always attempts to shake down businesses involved in racial controversies. It would appear that quack Jesse is now trying to shake down A&E and Cracker Barrel, or at least to take the limelight away from fellow charlatan Al Sharpton.

Time is running out on the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s demand for a meeting with A&E executives about “Duck Dynasty” patriarch Phil Robertson, a man he says has done something “more offensive” than the bus driver who ordered Rosa Parks to move to the back of his bus.

On Monday, Jackson, head of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, demanded a meeting within 72 hours over his claim in a GQ interview that African-Americans were perfectly happy before Civil Rights. Rosa Parks helped launch the movement when she refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on Dec. 1, 1955.

“These statements uttered by Robertson are more offensive than the bus driver in Montgomery, Alabama, more than 59 years ago,” Jackson said in a statement. “At least the bus driver, who ordered Rosa Parks to surrender her seat to a white person, was following state law. Robertson’s statements were uttered freely and openly without cover of the law, within a context of what he seemed to believe was ‘white privilege.’”

A&E did not respond to a request for comment Thursday on whether it would meet with Jackson. Jackson also wants GLAAD and executives from Cracker Barrel to attend the meeting. The restaurant chain initially decided to pull “Duck Dynasty” merchandise, but reversed itself after “Duck Dynasty” fans rose to Robertson’s defense.

A&E has already suspended Robertson for the comments he made in the interview. His remarks on Civil Rights have been largely overshadowed by his remarks about homosexuality. In the interview he grouped gays with “drunks” and “terrorists” and said he didn’t understand how anyone could prefer a “man’s anus” to a vagina.

In his comments on race, the 67-year-old described his childhood in the backwoods of Louisiana.

“I never, with my eyes, saw the mistreatment of any black person,” he said. “Not once. Where we lived was all farmers. The blacks worked for the farmers. I hoed cotton with them. I’m with the blacks, because we’re white trash. We’re going across the field…. They’re singing and happy. I never heard one of them, one black person, say, ‘I tell you what: These doggone white people’—not a word!… Pre-entitlement, pre-welfare, you say: Were they happy? They were godly; they were happy; no one was singing the blues.”

I was taught early in my law enforcement career that a person’s silence in response to an accusatory question was a tacit admission of guilt.

Calvin TerBeek, an obious out-and-out liberal obviously abhors this reasonable decision by conservative justices of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court.

USING A HOUSTON MURDER CASE, THE SUPREME COURTQUIETLY STRANGLES THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT
By Calvin TerBeek

Houston Press Hair Balls
December 26, 2013

On an early December morning in 1992, two brothers were shot in a Houston home. There were no witnesses. The HPD's investigation led them to Genovevo Salinas, who had been at a party with the victims the evening before. Salinas agreed to accompany the police officers to the police station and even gave them his shotgun to analyze. Salinas voluntarily spoke to the officers for about an hour, but then, when they asked him whether ballistics testing would show that the shells at the crime scene would match up with his shotgun, Salinas clammed up and refused to answer. Instead, and keep in mind this is coming from a police report, Salinas, "[l]ooked down at the floor, shuffled his feet, bit his bottom lip, cl[e]nched his hands in his lap, [and] began to tighten up." Because Salinas had voluntarily accompanied the officers to the police station, the officers were not obligated to read him his Miranda Rights.

There was not, at that point, enough evidence to arrest Salinas for the murders, but evidence (a statement by someone who said he heard Salinas confess to the crime) later turned up and an arrest warrant was issued. Salinas, however, was gone. In 2007, though, he turned up living in Houston under an assumed name and was arrested for the murders.

At trial, the prosecutor commented on Salinas' failure to answer the officers' question -- the prosecutor told the jury that "an innocent person'" would have said, "What are you talking about? I didn't do that. I wasn't there," but Salinas "didn't respond that way," he "wouldn't answer that question." Salinas' attorney objected that this commentary violated Salinas' Fifth Amendment right to remain silent (also remember it as the beginning phrase of the famous Miranda Rights).

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeal upheld the conviction unanimously. The Supreme Court, split 5-4 along the predictable ideological lines, also voted to uphold the conviction. To be completely accurate, Justices Alito, Kennedy and Chief Justice Roberts decided that Salinas had to expressly invoke his right to remain silent, and because he did not do so, the prosecutors' comments were constitutionally valid. Justices Thomas and Scalia agreed with the result, but would have gone further and ruled that even if Salinas had explicitly invoked his right to remain silent, the prosecutor could have commented on his silence. The four liberals would have found that Salinas' Fifth Amendment rights had been violated. (It is worth noting that this shows how far to the right the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is; it is also worth noting that that the CCA is filled with unimpressive legal minds).

While this case hasn't gotten the media attention that some of the Court's "bigger" cases get, it is important because it will affect near everyone who gets caught up in a police investigation. Criminal defense attorneys always tell you to "keep your mouth shut." Well, now this case has made that proposition a bit muddier. If you have not been arrested and Mirandized and you just "shut up" during police questioning, the prosecution will now be able to comment on it (n.b., the keep your mouth shut rule still applies if you have been arrested). Also, now a person has to invoke their Fifth Amendment rights explicitly, not just "stand mute." But it's not clear what specifically a person has to say. Most people, and especially those who are being questioned by the police, probably do not know which constitutional amendment (did you?) to invoke. Or perhaps something less strict is valid -- the Court's ruling does not tell us though.

This case is best understood as a project that has been ongoing since President Nixon -- efforts by the conservative justices to narrow the liberal Warren Court rulings that were sympathetic to criminal defendants from the 1960s (like Miranda) without explicitly getting rid of Miranda altogether -- think about the implications for any cop shows/movies. This is yet another quiet pulling of the pro-prosecutorial noose tighter.

I’ve waded up to my hips and been dumped out of dugouts in the piranha infested Orinoco River and other piranha infested Amazon waters. The only thing I ever experienced from those flesh eating fish was a few nibbles on my feet and legs without losing a drop of blood. And I’ve seen hundreds of little children, including toddlers, bathing in those waters without any mishap. The claim that piranhas can strip the carcasses of cattle in seconds is pure Hollywood hype.

Argentine authorities said piranha attacks, such as the one in Rosario, are rare.

GIRL LOOSES PART OF FINGER AND 60 ARE INJURED IN A MASS PIRANHA ATTACK ON CHRISTMAS DAY SWIMMERS
More than 20 children among injured when meat-eating fish attacked while swimmers were cooling down as temperatures in the city are 100 degrees

By Gerard Couzens

Mail Online
December 26, 2013

A mass piranha attack left sixty people injured as they enjoy a Christmas Day swim in an Argentine river.

Dozens of bathers including more than 20 children were bitten by the shoal of meat-eating fish during the surprise attack.

A seven-year-old girl lost part of one of her fingers and a young boy was left with an open fracture in his hand.

Other swimmers suffered deep cuts to their ankles, fingers and hands.

The attack happened on Christmas Day on a popular beach on the Parana River in the city of Rosario, birthplace of Barcelona [soccer] striker Messi.

Swimmers trying to cool down in 100 degrees temperatures raced out of the water bleeding from wounds and shouting for help while the parents of children in the water rushed to their aid to drag them to safety.

Coastguards called paramedics so they could assist the most seriously injured before police temporarily closed off the beach, forcing people out of the water who continued to swim despite the danger.

The attack, blamed on a piranha cousin called palometas, was the most serious of its kind in the city since 2008 when 40 swimmers were hurt.

Paramedic Gustavo Centurion described them as 'very aggressive.'

The meat-eating fish are reported to have been attracted to the coast by debris left by local fishermen.

Local government spokesman Ricardo Biasatti described the attack as a rarity.

He said: 'This sort of event in this area is absolutely sporadic. It was the conjunction of two factors, a shoal that passed very briefly through an area full of people.'

Thursday, December 26, 2013

A pro-pot group is now authorized to begin gathering signatures to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in the formerly great state of California. I doubt very much they will have any trouble gathering 500,000 signatures to get it on the ballot. If it does get there, I expect it to pass. I also think it will be a bad thing, at least until some valid testing is developed to parallel current alcohol testing for levels of impairment.

It will, of course, still be in violation of federal law. This will cause all sorts of problems for people with occupations issues for impairment, like cops, aircraft pilots, commercial drivers, etc. The perils of conflicting laws.

EDITOR’S NOTE: If the recreational use of pot passes as Bob predicts, the Justice Department and DEA will not enforce the federal laws barring the manufacture, distribution and possession of marijuana as long as a Democrat occupies the White House. You can bet that in Washington and Colorado, which are the first two states to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, the USDJ and DEA will be sitting on their collective asses while the pot growers and sellers get filthy rich.

The Austin cops were impressed by the ad. They traced it to 41-year-old Corey Lynn Plumlee and agreed to pay him $220 for a half ounce of pot. Plumlee then met with an undercover cop Monday and they made the transaction. Then a couple of other cops showed up and busted the pot entrepreneur, charging him with delivery of marijuana.

For poor ole Mr. Plumlee, those Austin cops were the Grinch that stole Christmas.

From French troops going into Mali and North Korea threatening to bomb the United States, to Hugo Chavez’s death, the Egyptian president's ouster, and Russia’s smart move to “save the world” from another U.S.-Middle Eastern war – 2013 was a very eventful year, and its effects will continue to be felt around the world.

We promise that 2014 will also be a momentous year of global events.

Top 5 Trends That Will Shape 2014

An enduring detente between Iran and the United States

The rise of nationalist and extremist parties in Europe

Russia and Germany bargain over Central/Eastern Europe and energy policy

China's return to strongman politics

Domestic turmoil and economic stress in India and Turkey

The United States will attempt to balance power in the Middle East through its strategic negotiations with Iran; the rise of nationalist and euroskeptic parties will be felt in this upcoming year’s elections; the Chinese president will continue to consolidate more power under himself. Barely missing the list but still notable: the end of the FARC insurgency in Colombia, escalating violence in Nigeria, and Mexico's return to political gridlock.

A Beaverton man was arrested following a string of erratic outbursts that culminated in the suspect allegedly masturbating in a Salem roadhouse, officials said.

It took a Taser and more than a dozen officers on Sunday to finally subdue Andrew Frey inside Iggy's Bar & Grill on Portland Road Northeast, the Marion County Sheriff's office said.

The 37-year-old man later told authorities he had used methamphetamine the day before and had no recollection of the alleged wild behavior, according to officials.

The brouhaha began around 1 p.m. when sheriff's deputies started receiving reports of man acting bizarrely in the 9000 block of Brooklake Road Northeast, officials said.

The man, identified as Frey, had allegedly called a locksmith and later refused to pay the worker for his services, Marion County officials said.

After allegedly stiffing the locksmith, Frey wandered over to Brook's Market and refused to leave, officials said. An employee at the market had to eventually escort the alleged suspect off of the property, who then made his way to Iggy's Bar & Grill.

That's when Frey's behavior allegedly took a turn for the vulgar, Marion County officials said.

A bartender told authorities that Frey exposed his genitals and started masturbating at the bar, officials said. By the time a Marion County deputy arrived on scene, Frey had moved from the bar to the bathroom, but reportedly had not stopped pleasuring himself.

Frey allegedly resisted arrest, forcing the deputy to zap the suspect with a Taser multiple times, officials said. The Taser had no effect on Frey, who then allegedly starting fighting with the deputy, officials said.

At least 15 police officers from Salem, Keizer and Marion County rushed to the bar and were eventually able to take the suspect into custody, officials said.

Frey was later charged with public indecency, resisting arrest and theft.

Thanks, but no thanks, I’ll just pass up on those crunchy grasshoppers, locusts, crickets and scorpions.

CREEPY-CRAWLY CUISINE IS COMING

Science Uncovered
December 2013

Insects are highly nutritious and heading to a dinner plate near you.

The idea of eating tangles of muscle from a Petri dish may be unpalatable to some. Even less appealing, however, may be the idea of devouring insects, deep-fried or otherwise.

Yet in restaurants from London to Sydney, insects are proving quite a hit with a niche audience keen to eat delights such as grasshoppers, locusts, crickets and scorpions (heat-treated, of course, to remove the toxins).

Insects actually form part of the traditional diets of at least two billion people worldwide, according to The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

There’s no escaping the fact that they are good for you. A recent FAO report points to the benefits of eating insects.

They are high in fat, protein, fiber, and key minerals and vitamins, from iron and calcium to B vitamins and vitamin E.

Crucially, insects have a negligible impact on the environment. They are cold-blooded and very efficient at converting feed to protein, not using energy to maintain their body temperature.

They can also be fed on organic waste. So-called mini livestock also offer ‘livelihood opportunities’, says a recent FAO report on edible insects, meaning they could also be an ethical choice.

A New Jersey woman arrested for DUI phones a friend to pick her up at the police station. The friend also gets busted for DUI and both call another friend to pick them up. That friend gets busted for DUI as well. One can only describe the three as dumb, dumber and dumbest.

TWO DRIVERS CALLED TO PICK UP DRUNKEN DRIVING SUSPECT IN READINGTON ARE ALSO CHARGED WITH DUI

Hunterdon County Democrat
December 20, 2013

READINGTON TOWNSHIP, N.J. — The arrest of a local woman here on drunken driving charges led to the arrest of both people who went to pick her up at the police station for the same offense, police reported Thursday. Police gave the following account:

The vehicle stop that eventually resulted in three arrests took place Monday, Dec. 16, around 1:45 a.m., when Patrolman Patrick Brown stopped a car for swerving on Route 22 east at Route 523. The vehicle was driven by Carmen Reategui, 34, of Whitehouse Station.

Brown had Reategui perform a series of standardized field sobriety tests, which she failed, police said. Reategui was arrested and taken to headquarters for processing. She ended up charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol, failure to stay in her lane and failure to provide a vehicle insurance card.

Reatequi then called Nina Petracca, 23, of Dunellen for a ride. Once Petracca arrived at the station, Patrolman Peter Serrone started explaining the potential liability form to her.

Petracca said she had driven to headquarters and Serrone noticed that Petracca displayed signs of intoxication so he had her do sobriety tests in the lobby of the building and she failed. Petracca was arrested on a DUI charge and a later search of her purse revealed seven Vicodin in an unlabeled container, police said. She was then also charged with possession of Vicodin and driving while in possession of a controlled dangerous substance.

Later both drivers called Ryan Hogan, 33, of Whitehouse Station for a ride. Once he arrived at the station, Sgt. Carlos Ferreiro asked him how he arrived, and he stated that he drove. As the officer explained the potential liability form to Hogan, Ferreiro detected the odor of alcohol coming from him and noticed that he, too, appeared to be drunk, police said.

After Hogan failed sobriety tests, he was also charged with DWI. All three drivers were later released to a sober adult, police reported. They are set to appear in court in January.

Phoenix goalie scores Buffalo's game-winning goal on himself when he backs into the goal with the puck stuck in the back of his pants

In Monday night’s ice hockey game between the Buffalo Sabres and Phoenix Coyotes, the game went into overtime with the score tied at one apiece. With only a little over a minute remaining in the five-minute overtime period, Buffalo players attacked the Phoenix goal. Coyote goalie Mike Smith came out of his goal crease to block a shot by Mark Pysyk of the Sabres.

Pysyk’s shot rebounded up into the air. Smith, having lost sight of the puck, turned around and headed back to the goal when the puck came down and landed in the back of his pants. Not knowing where the puck was, Smith spun around and backed into the goal preparing to defend it in case Buffalo got the puck back.

Unfortunately for Smith, by backing into the goal with the puck stuck in his pants, he scored on himself. Some are calling it a buttgoal. Whatever you want to call it, that goal ended the game with last place Buffalo winning for only the 10th time in 37 games so far this season.

As an avid ice hockey fan I’ve watched hundreds of games. Of course, goalies get scored on all the time and I’ve seen some unusual goals over the years. But this one by Mike Smith has got to be the most unusual goal of the year, if not of all time.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

ATF agents used mentally disabled individuals in sting operations; one brain damaged man was used for six months and paid with cigarettes

First there was Operation Fast and Furious. Now the ATF is involved in another scandal, but this one is a new low.

The ATF has been using brain damaged men in sting operations. Earlier this year, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel uncovered Operation Fearless in which agents in Milwaukee used a 28-year-old man with an IQ of 54 to “stage drug deals and criminal transactions at a set-up store where undercover agents could swoop in and make arrests.”

The Journal-Sentinel reported that ATF agents used Chauncey Wright for six months and paid him with cigarettes. He had no idea that the store was a fake. Wright was told to ride his bicycle around the area and hand out fliers touting up business for the new store. The agents also got Wright to help them stock shelves with illegal merchandize, including drug paraphernalia.

When confronted with the paper’s report, the ATF insisted that the use of the mentally disabled was confined strictly to the Milwaukee area. However, the Journal-Sentinel discovered that the ATF also used brain damaged individuals in at least four other cities.

The ATF agents working undercover in the Milwaukee store also reportedly “allowed the operation to be compromised by a burglary, let an armed felon leave the store without apprehension, lost government weapons – including a machine gun – to theft, and damaged a rented building they used during the investigation and refused to pay for it.”

The Justice Department Inspector General is now investigating the tactics used in Operation Fearless. I suspect that when all is said and done, a few scapegoats will be fired. But, just as in Operation Fast and Furious, ATF higher-ups will escape unscathed.

Oops, I almost forgot. If you agree that the use of brain damaged individuals is a new low, there’s more to this report that is even lower. When they finally closed down the storefront operation, the ATF arrested Chauncey Wright and charged him with several counts of federal drug and firearms violations.